Body weight, Physical Activity and Nutrition. In a meta-analysis of 8 large studies that used nonstandard body mass index (BMI) categories and were published between 1999 and 2014 and included 5.8 million participants, hazard ratios were small throughout the range of overweight and normal weight.Risks were similar between subjects of high-normal weight (BMI of about 23.0-24.9) and low overweight (BMI about 25.0-27.4). It was found that the ways in which BMI data are categorized and reported may shape inferences about the degree of risk for various BMI categories. In the Golestan Cohort Study of 50,045, a population-based Iranian cohort, physical activity during adolescence and early adulthood had no association with mortality, but at baseline higher levels of activity were associated with reduced mortality and obesity during adolescence and early adult life associated with increased mortality. Associations between BMI and vigorous physical activity, and circulating levels of 78 inflammatory, immune, and metabolic markers were examined in Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Specific inflammatory markers were identified as associated that could be considered in future studies for linking obesity and inflammation. Endogenous Hormones. A study of women with BRCA1 or 2 mutations demonstrated a high correlation of serum levels of estrone and estradiol and their metabolites with levels in nipple aspirate fluid and ductal lavge fluid. Using these results an analytic approach for a multi-center study of vitamin D levels with breast and colorectal cancer was developed, which accounts for seasonal variation in vitamin D levels and central calibration of assays across study centers. The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study and the PLCO found that risk factors for ovarian cancer differed between nulliparous and parous women. Multiple Myeloma. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a biomarker for risk of m,ultiple myeloma (MM) was evaluated in US representative samples from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) III or NHANES 1999-2004 in individuals &#8804;50 years. MGUS is significantly more common in blacks, and a strong geographic disparity in the prevalence of MGUS between the North/Midwest versus the South/West regions of the United States was found. Lung Cancer/ Smoking. In the PLCOcirculating 77 inflammation markers using a multiplex assay were assessed for association wth lung cancer incidence, and 11 were statistically significantly associated. A cross-validated inflammation score using 4 independent markers had good discrimination with10-year lung cancer cumulative risks for former and current smokers. In a population-based case-control study in Italy, lung cancer risk increases with shorter time to first cigarette after waking (TTFC); this simple nicotine dependency measure increases lung cancer risk stratification beyond standard smoking measures. Assessing TTFC may improve lung cancer risk prediction and could be useful in lung cancer screening and smoking cessation programs. 78 inflammation, immune and metabolic markers were measured in PLCO and found that smoking was associated with a broad range of alterations in systemic immune and inflammation marker levels with quitting smoking resulted in marker levels being similar to never smokers. Breast Cancer. A nested case-control study from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium database (1994-2009) was conducted to identify the risk factors for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Different associations with BMI, age at first birth, and education between IBC and/or locally advanced breast cancer and breast cancer suggest a distinct etiology for IBC. Environmental Exposures. An evaluation of differential gene expression in thyroid tissue in relation to iodine-131 (I-131) doses received from the Chernobyl accident found long term differential gene expression in relation to individual I-131 doses and identifies a set of genes potentially important in radiation carcinogenesis. HPV. The association of demographic and behavioral factors with oral human papillomavirus (HPV) load for 18 high-risk types among individuals with prevalent high-risk HPV in NHANES 2009-2010 found that older age and current smoking are associated with a high oral load of high-risk HPV types. In the Costa Rica HPV16/18 Vaccine Trial (CRVT) those with HPV16/18 geometric mean titers were, respectively, at least 24 and 14 times higher among the two-dose and 9 and 5 times higher among one-dose vaccinees. Antibody levels following one-dose remained stable from month 6 through month 48 raising the possibility that a single dose of HPV VLPs provided long-term protect cervical cancer protection. In the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial participants in the control arm of the CRVT for HPV16 and HPV18 using bead-based glutathione S-transferase (GST-L1) multiplex serology assay, virus-like particle (VLP)-based ELISA., and two assays that measure neutralizing antibodies showed that GST-L1 is a marker of cumulative HPV infection, but not immune protection. At lower seropositivity cutoffs, GST-L1 better approximates VLP-ELISA. The cobas 4800 HPV Test that detects HPV16, HPV18, and other high-risk HPV types was assess against a research-use-only HPV typing method, Linear Array (LA, Roche Molecular Systems) using specimens from a longitudinal cohort study of initially HPV-positive women. The results demonstrate that cobas and LA results show excellent agreement, and the data support recommending HPV16 typing in the management of HPV-positive/Pap-negative women. Dyskeratosis congenita. Telomere length (TL) below the 1st percentile for age in leukocyte subsets, is diagnostic of DC. It was found that quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), a high throughput relative TL (TRL) measurement technique in population studies, raise doubts about using qPCR for clinical diagnosis of DC, but do not necessarily limit its use in large population studies. Esophageal Cancer. Case-control studies in South America were pooled to assess the association of Mat tea, a nonalcoholic infusion, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Odds ratioss for ESCC increased linearly with cumulative mat consumption and were unrelated to intensity of consumption, so greater daily consumption for shorter duration or lesser daily consumption for longer duration resulted in comparable ORs. The strength of association increased with higher mat temperatures. Multiple Cancers. Using nonparametric competing risk methods for cumulative incidence of cancer after transplantation for 2 periods (1987-1999 and 2000-2008), subgroups of transplantation recipients have a high absolute risk of some cancers and may benefit from targeted prevention or screening. Cancer risk after blood transfusion evaluated in a US case-control study using 552,951 elderly cases and 100,000 controls, was elevated 0 to 12 months after blood transfusion and associated with multiple transfusions, possibly due to reverse causation. About 203 tagging SNPs of 22 genes on 9p21.3 were examined in 8 cancers from case-control studies and found that genetic variants in CDKN2A, and possibly nearby genes, may be associated with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma and several other tumors. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In PLCO NHL cases and controls there was an association between GB virus-C (GBV-C) and NHL. GBV-C was associated with NHL.